Six startups will share this office on Southeast Grand, with free rent for a year and a $10,000 grant for each. PDC image

Weary of The Real World: Portland?

The Portland Development Commission is hosting an alternative, choosing startups to shack up in free office space in Southeast Portland with $10,000 grants.

They're winners -- announced this morning -- of a contest designed to improve the city's image among entrepreneurs and attract startups to the inner eastside.

The PDC, Portland's urban renewal agency, budgeted about $150,000 for the Startup PDX Challenge. It attracted about 240 applicants for the program, modeled on similar initiatives in Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Missouri.

Applicants were judged by members of Portland's investor and startup communities, including the Portland Seed Fund, the Portland Incubator Experiment, Rogue Venture Partners and Voyager Capital.

The PDC also held a public vote to help evaluate applicants. It weighted the results lightly relative to the official judges, but the top three vote-getters all won grants.

A landlord on Southeast Grand Avenue has agreed to provide them all free office space for a year in exchange for tenant improvements paid for by the PDC, which hopes to draw startups to an industrial and commercial neighborhood it calls "Produce Row."

Additionally, the winners will receive free legal and accounting help donated by various professional services firms. The PDC is providing the $10,000 grants itself.